In a recent sector wide survey, 'Building engineering business survey' sponsored by Scolmore, it's reported that almost 80% of engineering services firms have reported an increase or steady turnover during the first quarter of this year.
The survey has been run in partnership with BESA (Building Engineering Service Association), the ECA (Electrical Contractors' Association) and SELECT (Scottish electrical trade body).
The survey received 370 responses from companies all across the services sector and was completed in early to mid April.
BESA chief executive Paul McLaughlin said, 'We should be extremely heartened by these results. We continue to live through a period of unprecedented political upheaval, yet the building-engineering-services sector remains on track. For nine out of 10 respondents to be so upbeat about their immediate business prospects in the current uncertain economic climate is testimony to this industry's resilience.'
ECA CEO Steve Bratt commented, 'These figures show that the engineering-services sector continues to power ahead, against a backdrop of enormous political volatility. New business opportunities continue to be created across our sector, notably, but certainly not exclusively, linked to energy supply and storage. We remain cautiously optimistic entering into a period of further change with the upcoming general election.'
SELECT managing director Newell McGuiness added, 'It's encouraging to see continued optimism on workload, given the backdrop of uncertainty which exists at present. The rise in material costs is a concern and we hope that any further increases will be kept to a minimum.'
